Why I choose PACES PAideia

I’ve been home educating since 1997, coming up on 20 years. We have 8 kids, and have graduated three from homeschooling with PACES, each of which have gone on to higher education. We started our PACES journey in January of 2004. Right in the middle of Year 3…the Pilgrims.

Every summer, usually right about this time, I look at my husband and say, “Why can’t we just do this at home and stop doing PACES? I’m exhausted and the thought of gearing up for another school year just leaves me wanting to hide in bed”

To which he wisely replies, “Erin, you say this every July. Whether you realize it or not, PACES is for you too.” He has taught me to see the joy is in the struggle, and that the learning is not the only end game, it’s about so much more than books and papers. It’s about community, accountability, fellowship, growth, working collectively to solve problems and answer questions. Helping others and encouraging others in their journey. We are made for community. PACES provides that for both our kids AND the parents.

Due to a bad car accident, I missed the last day of school in May and haven’t been able to get my head around what the fall will look like. Today, my mentor, founder and director of PACES PAideia, Dr. Johnnie K. Seago, answered my request when I asked her to send me a calendar for the school year. She followed up by sending me all the reading lists and project requirements for our Year FOUR term. More than 50 pages to print off. When I first saw all the attachments, I wanted to hide, to quit. Then, as the printer in my husband’s office started printing them out….something happened.

Not only did I see thousands of words on those pages, I saw thousands of collective hours that the mommas I LOVE have poured into this program. This program is not a franchise (at least not yet), it’s a GOLD MINE and the Best Kept Secret in Houston because of the countless hours so many brilliant and hard working moms, who LOVE their kids and BELIEVE in the Classical Education Model, have devoted to these charts and our events.

Teachers like me are blessed because of champion warrior moms like Rachelle Davis, who is walking through one the biggest trials of her large family’s life after having lost everything in a massive flood in Simonton. Rachelle WON’T QUIT. Her hard work behind the scenes has set so many of us up for success this year. If Rachelle doesn’t quit, neither can I.

I don’t quit because of another champion warrior momma, Melana Monroe, who also has walked through the biggest trial of her family’s life this year when four of her six adult kids were diagnosed with cancer and all had to had their stomachs removed. Melana didn’t quit. I can’t quit either.

I don’t quit because of Warrior Momma, JoAnn Harmon, whose husband mysteriously just lost all feeling in his legs from the waist down and is now hospitalized while the doctors try to figure out what’s going on. JoAnn doesn’t quit. I can’t quit either.

I NEED to be around THESE type of women. They are ROCKS.

You see, I am around lots of homeschooling moms, I have been in these circles now for 2 decades. I see a lot of people come and go from group to group, co-op to co-op, over differences of opinions, or tastes, or how their kids were or were not getting along with others. I am here to tell you, that there is a VALUE in planting your flag and STAYING. Building a root system that will sustain you when the storms of life hit you. Struggling WITH others to figure out how to teach your 11 year old how to read, or your 5 year old how to sit still, or your 16 year old how to convert fractions to decimals. We stay together, not judging one another, but helping and serving alongside each other.

Finally, we stay with PACES because our adult children are the fruit. They each grew up in PACES and were home educated from pre-K on. Each went off to college and are pursuing more higher learning. They are solid, strong, and wise young adults who are each charting their own future course while also teaching or tutoring others in some capacity.

We have five more at home, with grandchildren now coming up through the ranks. We are excited about another year in PACES with NEW faces to Love on, and NEW books to explore together. If you are thinking about PACES PAideia, are currently on the fence, or have ANY questions at all about the program specifics, please message me. I would love to help CHEER you ON this year!!!

IT’s that time of year again and homeschoolers everywhere are trying to decide which route to take. If you are any where within an hour of the North side of Houston, come check out the PACES Paideia program. http://www.pacesinfo.org